When We Don't Exist
Reviewed by:
ninjagayden777, on august 20, 2012 1 of 3 people found this review helpful

Sound: There's two basic types of bands in metalcore: the innovators (Killswitch Engage, Bring Me The Horizon, Glass Cloud) that take their sound and expand it over time into something mature, listenable, and appealing, and the followers (Abandon All Ships, That's Outrageous!, etc.), who take familiar patterns and trends and churn out mediocre albums off of an assembly line. LMTF's "Rise" full length firmly plants them among the ranks of the latter.
Musically, this is standard scene-core. Breakdowns, minor riffs, drum mimicking bass, and... Breakdowns. The band's music is almost zombie-like: more comfortable imitating mindlessly the tones and progressions of their peers, offering nothing new. About the only thing to compliment are the technical drums. It's sad to see a decent drummer backing such weak songs.
How weak are the tracks? Well, most follow the cliche' verse-chorus-verse format with little to no alterations. The breakdowns (and yes, there are plenty) follow boring rhythms that died out years ago. When the band does try different things (the into of "The Worst In Me", for example), you get a big build up with no pay off other than more breakdowns. // 2

Lyrics: I remember my teen years fondly. Apparently, so do LMTF. The lyric booklet looks like something any high schooler could have penned during a particularly angsty English class. Trite, full of cliche', and delivered weakly, they bring the music down even more than it already did by itself. Their vocalist (formerly of Emarosa) delivers lines like "so don't come back to me/ now that you're gone I can finally breathe" in a sub standard clean that almost sounds forced (both in the song and in his voice). The screams aren't much better. You can only play good cop/bad cop vocal trades before they begin to grow monotonous. // 1

Overall Impression: I'm not one to just diss music, but this album is absolutely terrible. The only decent song ("Your Existance") is just a re-recorded (and more mediocre) version of the opening track on their EP. Boring teen rage/angst set atop boring music is what best sums up "When We Don't Exist". To paraphrase the title of their first single, if their future output sounds like this, they won't be missed.
Highlight: "Your Existence".
For fans of: Attack Attack!, Capture The Crown, any grab bag breakdown-core band. // 1